Face Creams That Harm

You may think you can slather on face creams with reckless abandon. After all, if a little helps a lot, then a lot must help more, right? Whether you’re trying to smooth out wrinkles, protect from sunlight, cover up blemishes, or something else, it makes sense to use lots, and to mix many different types.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. There are some face creams that actually can do more harm than good, especially if they are used together.

Methylisothiazolinone: Long Name, Potential Allergen
Methylisothiazolinone (MI) is a preservative, and it’s not new. But it’s only in the last few years that MI has been used alone in various products. In the past, it was combined with other preservatives. This means that MI concentrations have gone up, and its used in everything from baby wipes to soap to, of course, skin creams.

MI can cause allergic dermatitis, dermatologists warn, which manifests as red, swollen, and sore skin. Not exactly the look you want to sport with your new face cream…

Combining Creams Compounds Problems
Experts today warn that a “beauty diet” is preferable to piling on creams. The problem with mixing and matching is that you can expose your skin to the same ingredients over and over, or mixing ingredients that are more harmful when they’re mixed with others. For example, sources say you should never mix these chemicals, commonly found in various skin creams:

These can react with the others to cause allergic reactions. You’re more likely to end up with a chemical reaction if you use more than one brand and type of face cream.

Sunscreens
Wearing a daily sunscreen is something many women do as part of their makeup routine. But the thing about skin is, it’s absorbent. What you put on can end up getting in to your system. According to various sources, sunscreen’s toxic ingredients may actually increase the chance of developing skin cancer! Here are some that experts warn about:

-Oxybenzone
-Vitamin A (sounds nice, but when applied on the skin, it may actually promote tumor and lesion growth)
-Fragrance
-Parabens
-“Nano” products (these contain miniscule particles of various substances, and their small size means they can easily be absorbed through pores)

Instead, sources say to look for sunscreen that contains titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. These are considered safer because they are not absorbed through the skin. In addition, unscented sunscreens won’t have the synthetic fragrances and scent-related chemicals that scented ones do.